Ways To Celebrate Halloween Your Kids Will Love

If you have a child like mine who spent the first several years of Halloween indoors rather than trick or treating because going to door to door not only scared him but having cerebral palsy meant his legs couldn’t quite do all the walking around. You aren’t alone.

But who says kids have to go door to door to enjoy a night of trick or treating fun?

There are many alternatives out there, not just candy substitutions for those children who have a sweet tooth and mom and dad don’t want to deal with cavities and sore gums later.

There are events you can either plan yourself as indoor entertainment or events your kids can attend during Halloween night that doesn’t revolve around the door-to-door tradition of trick or treating.

Trunk or Treat

If you haven’t heard of this, that’s okay. It’s pretty cool and pretty easy to organize either with some neighbors in your community or your local church. You get a group of cars together and decorate the trunks Halloween theme style, offering up games, activities, face painting, and more, giving out candy as a prize or reward for completing each station. This is a great Halloween event that will keep the kids busy, while still allowing them to earn some treats they can enjoy!

Group Movie Night

Get your kids to gather up all their friends for group movie night. Make some Halloween themed recipes for the kids to enjoy, while they sit and watch a couple of shows. You can hand out prizes between movies for best costume, most original costume, do some crafts and just have a good ole time of it. Plus if you do up some Halloween goodie bags for each guest before they leave, you’ll be sure that next year the party will be even bigger.

For a list of family-friendly Halloween movies, the kids will enjoy – look here!

Pet Dress Up Fun

For kids that don’t like to go trick or treating but still want to participate and have animals, this is a hoot! Pet dress up and fun is super easy and requires very little money and some pretty patient animals. Kids in your neighborhood with pets can go to the dollar store and dress up their animals in Halloween costumes. You can make goodie bags and treats for each participating pet-to-kid duo, and even hand out a bigger prize for best pet costume. Trust me when I say, the animals might not be too happy about this but the kids will have a blast!

Bobbing for Donuts

This idea comes from classy mom Rachel Hollis over at The Chic Site. You have to read the post to see the wonderful set up she has created with this fun activity where instead of bobbing for apples, you tie strings around donuts and let the kids go at it with their teeth chomping.

Kids Halloween Bop & Dance

This one is my favorite. No matter what age kids are they love Halloween parties and love to dance. So if you aren’t going to go trick or treating then go all out and invite friends and family with kids, playdates from the neighborhood and create an all-around spooktacular party with themed music and costumes.

Get everyone to bring some type of Halloween themed dish to serve (think potluck) and have each parent bring one prize (per how many kids they have) so that each child can win a prize for the night. You can dance, play musical chairs and have a really great time!

Pin for Later!

What types of non-trick or treating activities have you engaged in with your family on Halloween?

Named one of Vancouver's top 30 most fabulous bloggers. In the past six years Jodi has appeared on CTV, CBC Radio, Abbotsford News and Times and various online publications. A top brand ambassador and marketing influencer, she loves sharing relevant stories and products that help make family life easier.